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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟖
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄

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The following morning had finally arrived and the three heroes found themselves back in the Wonderlandian forest. Indigo and Alice hid among the trees with their eyes glued to a couple of Jafar's guards as the sound of birds chirping filled the silence. The sight of them made the Lark girl want to turn and run in the other direction but she forced her fears away for Kaden's sake.

What felt like an eternity passed of them watching the men before the sound of branches rustling cut through the air. The two women instantly unsheathed their sword and dagger and pointed them in the direction of the noise. It wasn't long after that when Will appeared from out of the bushes behind them. Indigo instantly sent the Scarlet man an annoyed glare before returning her dagger to her belt.

"Knave. You gave us a fright," Alice said after letting out a sigh and sheathing her sword in its holster, "where were you?"

"Sorry, nature was calling," the brunette man responded, earning a confused look from the curly-haired girl while the blonde woman looked back at him with wide eyes.

"Really? What did it say?" the Kingsleigh woman asked, causing Will to glance up at his allies before letting out a long sigh.

"Nothing you want to hear, trust me," the Knave of Hearts told them then he turned his attention back to the guards in the distance, "so those guards out there, they're looking for us?"

"No. They're looking for someone who's escaped," Alice announced without taking her eyes off the two men, "they're looking for Cyrus."

"Well, that's good," Indigo said, only for her traveling companions to send her questioning looks before she continued speaking, "if they're still looking for him, it means they haven't found him yet. But it's only a matter of time, so I suggest we start looking, too."

"Actually, we don't have to," the Kingsleigh woman stated after turning her attention back to the guards, "I know exactly where he's going."

"Where might that be?" Will questioned with a hint of irritation in his voice as he glanced up at Alice.

"The only place he knows where he'll be safe."

"In Wonderland? With Jafar and the Red Queen after him?" Indigo said with the same amount of annoyance as the Scarlet man, "I doubt such a place exists."

"There is," the blonde woman declared before letting out a long sigh, "he just needs to get there before they get him."

Indigo and Will slowed their pace a bit before exchanging a confused look, unsure if they should believe there's a safe place for them in Wonderland. It wasn't long after that when they forced themselves to catch back up with Alice and journey through the familiar Wonderlandian forest. They let the silence surround them for another moment as they trekked toward their unknown destination. The unknown soon became too much to bear for the Scarlet man and he finally decided to ask the question that was going through his and Indigo's heads.

"So where are we headed? Where exactly is the safe place of yours?"

"The Outlands," Alice responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Seriously? You expect us to walk all the way to the Outlands?" Indigo mocked, earning a small chuckle from Will before she continued speaking, "you couldn't have picked somewhere closer?"

"Back when Cyrus and I were together, we made a deal that if we ever separated or if anything ever happened, we'd always meet back there," the Kingsleigh woman explained without glancing back at her traveling companions, "we just need to make a stop before we arrive."

"Oh, of course, we bloody do. Where now?" the Knave of Hearts scoffed while the Ace of Spades let out an annoyed sigh.

"The White Rabbit's house," Alice responded with a hint of uncertainty in her voice, causing both Will and Indigo to stop in their tracks before the blonde woman turned around to face them.

"Oh, come on," the Scarlet man said, causing the blonde woman to turn around to face them while Indigo stared at the woman with annoyance in her eyes, "I know you're ticked off about how he betrayed us but is this really the time to settle a score?"

"I don't want revenge, Knave, I want help."

"From him? He's a bloody traitor."

"For him to betray us like that, there has to be a reason."

"And he's also the only way out of Wonderland," the Lark girl stated, drawing the attention of her companions, "the portal you and Jefferson used before isn't gonna open any time soon. Percy is our only chance out of here."

"Don't you see? With Jafar and the Red Queen alive, we'll never be safe here," Alice declared while Will continued to stare at both of them with disbelief in his eyes, "the three of us and Cyrus need to leave today. And the Rabbit's the only one that can take us away."

"No. No, I'm not going with you," Indigo muttered just loud enough for them to hear before she looked up to meet their confused stares, "I'm not leaving Wonderland without Kaden."

Just as Alice was about to argue with the Ace of Spades' declaration, Will took a step to the side so that he was standing directly next to the Lark girl. "I'm not leaving without him either."

The Kingsleigh woman just stared at them for a long moment before letting out an irritated sigh. "Then it's settled. We find Cyrus and Kaden then get out of Wonderland."

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On the other side of Wonderland, Kaden stood near the door of the Red Queen's throne room. Silence filled the space as he watched the blonde woman arrange a bouquet of red roses. It wasn't long before the stillness was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. When the two of them turned their attention toward the noise, they found one of the Tweedles walking toward them with a panicked look on his face.

"Your Majesty," the white-haired man greeted as he stopped in front of the Queen while Anastasia continued to work on her flowers without a care in the world, "I've heard something through the grapevine."

"Yes?" the Red Queen questioned after putting her flowers down and turning her full attention toward the man in front of her.

"Uh, the genie has been captured in the forest. He's yours now," the Tweedle announced, causing a wicked grin to appear on the blonde woman's face while the panicked look stayed glued to the former's.

"Spectacular! Let's go retrieve him, shall we?" Anastasia said before she walked past the white-haired man, only for her to stop in her tracks and look back at the Tweedle when she realized he wasn't following, "well, I'm sensing you're not sharing my enthusiasm. What is it?"

"It's my brother."

"Darling, your sibling rivalry does not interest me."

"I fear he may have done a bad thing," the man confessed while trying to keep an emotionless look on his face.

"Considering both of your mental limitations, I'm not sure it's something I need to worry about," the Red Queen responded before turning around and gesturing for Kaden to follow her. However, they only made it to the doorway when the Tweedle's next words stopped them in their tracks.

"I saw him give something to Jafar!" the white-haired man exclaimed, causing the Queen and her Knight to spin around to face the speaker once again, "a bag. Handed it to him in secret."

"What was in it?" Anastasia questioned in a much quieter voice as she took a few steps toward the Tweedle.

"I don't know," the man admitted while doing his best to hide the fear in his voice, "but I came to you right away. I don't know what it is, and I'm sorry."

"No need for apologies. Now, leave before I decide to kill the messenger," the Red Queen hissed, causing the Tweedle to walk past the woman and sprint down the hall.

Once his footsteps faded away, Kaden turned his attention back to the blonde woman as she walked toward her cabinet. The Red Knight hesitated for a moment then followed after her. As soon as he was by her side, the Red Queen threw the doors of her wardrobe open before pulling a drawer open. Her hands instantly wrapped around a red and black checkered box then she placed it in Kaden's grasp.

The moment the Scarlet boy had the box secured in his fingers, Anastasia placed a key into the keyhole and unlocked the chest. Kaden watched as the woman in red hesitated for what felt like an eternity before she lifted the lid to reveal an empty box. After the Red Queen slammed the lid shut, Kaden looked up at her with an emotionless look on his face.

"Do you want me to go after the other Tweedle?" the brunette boy asked without thinking, only for his Queen to send him a somewhat forced grin.

"No. We're going after the genie."

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About an hour passed of Kaden standing in the back of the Red Queen's carriage as she guided them through the Wonderlandian forest. His thoughts were on overdrive about the new information they discovered from the Tweedle. But no matter how many questions he asked, he never got an answer. If there was one thing Anastasia liked more than her power, it was her secrets. Then again, she always said that her secrets brought her power.

It wasn't long before the Red Knight spotted something strange in the distance. As they got closer to the unnatural object, Kaden was able to see the genie captured in one of the blonde woman's grapevines. The Red Queen stopped the carriage underneath the raven-haired man before she and her knight turned around to face him.

"Come to finish the job?" Cyrus questioned as his eyes went from the Queen to her knight and back again.

"Not exactly," Anastasia responded before she waved her hand in the air, causing the grapevines to detach from the tree and the genie to fall into the back of the carriage, "shall we go for a ride?"

"Well, that depends on where we're going," the raven-haired man stated after getting to his feet and facing the woman in red.

"Where you belong, darling," the blonde woman said as a sinister smirk appeared on her face before she faced forward and used the reins in her hands to have the horses proceed through the forest, "back to your bottle."

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After traveling for a few more hours with the occasional conversation breaking the silence, the trio of heroes finally arrived at the White Rabbit's house. Alice and Will immediately walked toward the tree stump in the center of the small clearing while Indigo took a look around at her surroundings. Even though the Ace of Spades didn't know Percy very well, it didn't take a genius to know something was off. Just standing in the clearing gave Indigo a strange feeling in her gut.

"Nice spot," Will said, breaking the silence and drawing Indigo's attention to him to see him examining the small house in the center of the clearing, "there's something wrong in the world when a rabbit has a nicer flat than you do."

"I have to agree with you on that one," the Lark girl responded, thinking back to the underground house she'd been living in for the past couple of years.

"Hey! I worked hard to make that nice!" Jefferson's voice rang through her ears, earning an annoyed sigh from the curly-haired girl.

"You never reinforced it, Jay. I was always scared of the roof caving in on me," Indigo muttered under her breath while the Knave sent her a confused look.

"Well...that's fair enough. Good luck finding the Rabbit."

Even though she knew the Mad Hatter couldn't see her, Indigo rolled her eyes in response to his comment. It wasn't long after that when she turned her attention back to the situation at hand, only to find Alice looking around the clearing with a distressed look on her face.

"It looks different here," was all the Kingsleigh woman said as she continued to look around at her surroundings.

"I noticed the moment we arrived," Indigo responded, causing both Will and Alice to look over at her before she pointed down at the vegetables next to her, "the carrots are all moldy. I may not know Percy very well, but I do know that rabbits love their carrots."

"Maybe he abandoned the place," the Scarlet man suggested, only for Alice and Indigo to exchange a knowing look before looking over at the man.

"Or maybe that's just what he wants people to think he did," the blonde woman suggested while walking over to the front door and banging on it, "Rabbit, it's me. It's Alice. Rabbit!"

"Any other idea where we might find him?" Will questioned.

"Yes," Indigo stated as she pushed past her allies to stand directly in front of the door before kicking it open, "in here."

Will and Alice just stared at her for a long moment before the latter walked past her and into the small house. Indigo sent the Scarlet man a smug smile before she followed after the blonde with the Knave on her heels. The three of them squeezed into the tiny home before they looked around at the seemingly abandoned space. While the Knave and the Spade looked around for any sign of life, the Kingsleigh woman called out again to the creature that was once her friend.

"Rabbit? Where are you? I know you're in here."

"Over here, Alice," Percy called out as he walked out from the back room with his ears hanging low before he sat down in his small chair, "do want you want with me. Everyone else has."

The blonde woman just stared at the White Rabbit with sorrow in her eyes before she crouched down in front of him. "What happened to you?"

"I...I betrayed you, Alice. You and Cyrus."

"And me, and Indie," the Scarlet man added, earning a not-so-gentle nudge in the side from Indigo.

"Yes, even the two of you."

"Rabbit, we already know. We have for quite some time," Alice told Percy, causing the latter to look up at her with confusion in his eyes.

"Then...then why are you here?" the White Rabbit questioned in a tone that made it obvious he was desperate for answers.

"Because I need your help. One last time," Alice explained, only for the creature's ears to hang even lower than before, "Cyrus is free. And we're going to be reunited. And when we are, I need you to be there. So we can go home, and leave this behind for good."

Percy just stared at his friend for a moment longer before he broke eye contact with her and looked down at his shoes. That action alone made the feeling in Indigo's gut return. Something wasn't right here. Before the Lark girl even had a chance to figure out what her feelings meant, the White Rabbit opened his mouth to respond to Alice. "I'm sorry, but...I...I can't."

"You can. And you bloody well will," the Scarlet man declared, drawing everyone's attention to him except for the curly-haired girl, who was still studying the White Rabbit, "after everything you've done, you owe her that much."

"I owe her more," Percy exclaimed as he jumped to his feet while glaring at the Knave before he started pacing back and forth in front of them, "but there's a difference between what I should do and what I'm able to do."

"What does the Queen have against you?" Indigo questioned, causing everyone to look over at her with confused expressions on their faces before the former sent them a small shrug, "the Queen has something against everybody in Wonderland."

"The Spade is right," the White Rabbit announced before looking back down at his shoes, "the Queen...she has my family. My wife, my children. Everything I've done, I've done to keep them alive. I'm sorry you've had to suffer because of it, but you know better than anyone that when someone you love is in danger, you'll do anything to save them."

Alice simply stared at the creature in front of her for a moment longer before sending him a simple nod and getting to her feet. "I do understand."

When neither Indigo nor Will said a word, the Kingsleigh woman slammed her elbow into the Knave's side. The focus caused him to stumble and collide with the Spade. Both of them sent Alice a glare after they gathered their bearings before they looked back at the White Rabbit.

"Me, too," Indigo muttered under her breath just loud enough for everyone to hear despite all the emotions building up inside her.

"I also apparently understand," Will added without even trying to make his words sound convincing.

"No one has to know that you helped us, Rabbit," the blonde woman continued her plea for help with a small smile on her face.

"The Red Queen would know! And even if you found another way out of Wonderland, she'd blame me!" Percy exclaimed before his ears fell as he looked to the floor beneath his feet once again, "it was my job to stay with you, to be her ears, to tell her everything you were doing."

Alice hesitated for a moment as she watched the White Rabbit. It wasn't long after that when she got the same look on her face when they found the birdbark tree. The look that indicated she had come up with an idea. A look that Indigo was slowly beginning to dislike.

"What if we rescued them? Your family," the blonde woman suggested, causing Indigo and Will to stare at her with shocked expressions on their faces while she continued to speak to Percy, "we can all leave together."

"Well, you'd have to find them first. I've already searched every place I can think of where the Queen would hide them, and failed miserably."

"Alright," Will muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear, causing them all to look over at him to find a conflicted look on his face, "maybe I can help. I might not know where the Queen stashed something important, but I do know where Anastasia might."

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